Prawit, Joshua Wong share spotlight online

The Bt21-million cost of a chartered flight to take Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan and his entourage to a security conference in Hawaii is still the talk of the town. The controversy began when former reporter Whee Mati found a document on the Government House website that detailed costs for the trip and posted it online. The high figure raised eyebrows, as well as questions and comparisons to flights abroad taken by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and former premier Yingluck Shinawatra.

The temperature rose mid-week when Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong was barred from entering the country. Thanks to Skype, though, he was able to address an audience gathered at Chulalongkorn University to mark the 40th anniversary of the Thammasat student massacre on October 6, 1976. The anniversary brought more calls for justice for the murdered victims, since no perpetrator has ever been prosecuted. 

The online atmosphere quickly regressed to the divisiveness we saw prior to the 2014 coup, as polarised sides hurled criticism and insults at each other. 

Here’s a sampling of what was said.

“Dear Whistleblowers, if you hate cheating and corruption, you have to condemn and examine all similar cases without bias,” wrote Drama-addict.  

Viriya Satien suggested Thailand follow China’s example in dealing with graft and said the premier should prove his determination to promote transparency, starting with the people close to him. Others warned against “assuming” that the Bt21-million government flight constituted corruption.

Once the passenger list was leaked online, observers noticed it included the names of his close friends, including a TV journalist, prompting the journalist to insist on Facebook that she remained in Thailand and even appeared on TV live on Friday. 

The Yud Dudcharit [Stop Mincing] Thailand Facebook page on which the passenger list was published now faces possible legal action by Thai Airways International.

Prawit’s trip was from Thursday to Sunday. 

User @lokklom complained that having officials attend a two-day conference wasn’t worth the high cost of the chartered flight. The price “sounds a lot more reasonable if they’d gone to Europe for 8-9 days like Yingluck did”.

Critics posted pictures suggesting that Prawit was “rewarding” his friends with a jaunt to Hawaii, but his defenders pointed out that the pictures showed other Asian defence ministers who attended the conference. 

The news about Joshua Wong on Wednesday was initially confusing, as to whether he’d actually arrived in Thailand, was detained, deported, or whether his deportation was a response to a request from Beijing.

Decharut Sukkumnoed wrote, “I never thought Thailand would become this barbaric. He only came to deliver a speech but was deported. When did we lose out sovereignty?” 

Jirayudh Sinthuphan: “Last time they would not allow the Dalai Lama in the country. Understandable. This time it’s just a student. Perhaps they know a student can do more than political leaders.”

Wannasingh Prasertkul: “It’s all around the world now, such great PR. This confirms why we have to talk about October 6 every year.”